DEAD TO YOU by Lisa McMann

Be sure to be first in line when this one comes out in early February.  You won't be disappointed.  Lisa McMann's first realistic fiction offering has me hoping she is already busy on her next one.

He was seven years old when he was abducted from right in front of his house.  Now Ethan is sixteen years old, and he has finally returned to his family.  The memories of exactly what happened seem hazy to Ethan.  After living with a woman he calls Ellen, he was abandoned and lived in a group home before running away and living on the streets.  Always convinced that he had a loving family out there somewhere, Ethan scoured missing children websites at the library and miraculously found his long lost loved ones.

Now Ethan is home.  Of course, time has changed some things.  His mother welcomes him with open arms, although his father seems a bit less comfortable with his now almost grown son.  Ethan learns that he now has a little sister.  At first, he refers to her as "the replacement child," but that soon changes as she clearly worships the ground he walks on.  And then there's his brother Blake.  Blake was only four years old when Ethan was abducted.  In fact, they were playing together when the black car pulled up and whisked Ethan away.  Blake is having the most difficult time adjusting to Ethan's reappearance.

Everyone seems to expect Ethan to have memories of his life with them, but he finds that although things feel comfortable now that he is back at home, very few details of the past remain in his memory.  Even with the help of family therapy, Ethan finds it hard to reveal many details about his life with Ellen.  This makes it difficult to connect and triggers some fairly strong emotions, especially when Blake begins to question Ethan's true identity.

Fans of author Lisa McMann will surely appreciate this psychological thriller.  Ethan's struggle to reenter his former life grabbed me and made this book one I didn't want to put down.  It is definitely a story that will force you to put the rest of your life on hold so you can keep those pages turning.